Writer/Director with no agent or manager lands Hollywood stars for his feature film

(March 13, 2018)

With Hollywood constantly churning out big-budget super-hero franchise films that dominate the box office, independent cinema is becoming a world with less and less star power or audience draw. In the face of the big budget studio films one writer/director isn’t taking no for an answer. Jon Dabach parted ways with his agent and manager over ten years ago when he saw the writing on the wall.

“As much as I love Hollywood, I just didn’t see a place for me opening up. The business of movies has pushed out the artists who want to do something innovative. Studios were taking less chances on new faces ten years ago and today it seems abysmal for someone new to get hired to write or direct a film. I decided to find my own path and figure out how to connect with Hollywood actors directly without being represented by an agent.”

The film, Immortal, written by Jon Dabach is composed of four short stories being directed by four directors: Jon Dabach, Rob Margolies, Tom Colley, and Danny Isaacs, with Jon Dabach and Rob Margolies also producing. The film is Jon’s second time directing and has already cast familiar faces like Tony Todd from “Candyman,” Robin Bartlett from “Mad About You,” and Agnes Bruckner from “Murder by Numbers” and continues to add more name actors to its cast list every day. This isn’t the first time that a Jon Dabach script has managed to attract a great cast of well-known actors.

Jon Dabach’s directorial debut, I’d Like to be Alone Now was partially funded by a kickstarter campaign and starred Mindy Sterling from the Austin Powers series, Jack McGee from “Pitch” and “The Fighter,” Spencer Grammer from ABC Family’s “Greek,” Christopher Masterson from “Malcolm in the Middle,” Maria Conchita Alonso of numerous studio films, Samm Levine from “Inglorious Basterds” and “Freaks and Geeks,” Vanessa Lengies from “Glee,” and David Fynn of “Undateable.”

Jon credits his success in casting to the mentorship of his producing partner Rob Margolies. What’s perhaps most impressive is that the producing team was able to secure financing and cast for Jon’s second film while his first one was still in post-production.

“There are times where an agent or a manager would come in handy but in general you can kind of do most of this stuff yourself by picking up the phone and just being human. What filmmakers tend to forget is that actors are just like audiences - they love a great story. And great stories have great roles that actors want to play. As long as you focus on writing great characters with great dialogue you can find amazing talent who are willing to take a pay cut.”

Jon Dabach recently launched a blog, JonDabach.com, where he posts daily musings on the film business and details his exact process of making films without having a huge budget or Hollywood connections.